NBA and Globetrotters form marketing partnership

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association and the Harlem Globetrotters announced on Monday a multiyear marketing partnership deal in a move to raise the sport's profile around the world.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but will include the U.S. sports league planning and promoting the Globetrotters' international schedule of games and events, the groups said.

The partnership will debut in February, when the Globetrotters take part in a number of activities during NBA All-Star week in Phoenix. Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal said the agreement is for five years.

The Globetrotters, owned by Shamrock Holdings, are an exhibition basketball team that has showcased basketball skills and comedy in 120 countries. They are considered basketball's goodwill ambassadors.

"We believe our unique and proprietary brand of basketball showmanship, paired with the expertise and infrastructure of the NBA's global operation, is an unbeatable combination," Harlem Globetrotters Chief Executive Kurt Schneider said.

"The Harlem Globetrotters are world famous," Heidi Ueberroth, the NBA's president of global marketing partnerships and international business operations, said in a statement. "We are pleased to enter into this partnership which complements our efforts to continue the growth of the game of basketball globally."

The NBA is already working with sports and entertainment group AEG to build 12 to 25 "NBA-style" arenas in China. The league's games are televised in 215 countries and 41 different languages, and it has players from 32 countries and territories.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)